Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-03-15
DIRE CALAMITY.
A Passenger Train Breaks
Through a Bridge.
FIVE CARS SMASHED TO ATOMS.
'Thirty-TwO Human Beings Killed
Outright and Forty Mangled
Near Boston.

Near Boston.
Associated Press DISPATCHES to the HERALD
BosToN, March l4.-An accident this
morning occurred on the Dedham branch
of the Boston aud Providence railroad
between Forrest Hill and Roslindale, a
what is known as the Bussey PARK
bridge, and about one mile from Jamaica
Plains. The o'clock train from Ded
ham, consisting Of seven passenger
coaches and bagga9e-car, under charge
of Conductor Tilden, broke through the
bridge. The engine and three cars went
over safely, but the Others fell through
the bridge to the road below, distance
of thirty feet. The last car, which was
the smoker, turned completely over and
struck on the top of the others, all being
crushed almost out of shape. The bridge
where the accident occurred is com
paratively new one, and the accident
was caussd by the truck Of one of the
cars giving way, causing the car to strik
against an abutment of the bridge.
The smokipg-car, after it fell, caught
fire. hut the fire Vdepartment was
promp tly on hand and prevented any
spread Of the flames. Many Of the in
iured were brought to the hospitals in
this ci ty, and some of the killed have
not b cen identified. The train was
crowded with working people, and the
most intense excitement prevails among
their friends, who are anxious to hear
the names OF the killed and wounded.
The latest advices indicate that thirty
two persons are killed aud forty injured
Among these are many women. Con.
ductor Tilden was among the killed.
The bodies of the killed were horribly
mangled, some of their heads being en-.
ti1ely severed from their bodies, and
many of the bodies are crushed beyond
recognition.
The train was one which leaves Ded-
ham ct 7:05 and arrives at Boston at
! 40, and is one of the largest aud
heaviest on the morning list. This
morning, as usual, the train was heavily
loaded, and the last three cars, the ones
that left the track, were filled with pas
sengers who had been taken at Dedham
and the stations between there and For.
rest Hill. The accident was due to the
giving way of the bridge, under the
weight of the train, owing. doubtless, to
some hidden fault in its construction.
An inspection of the wreck reveals the
fact that of the eight cars comprising
the train, one was completely wrecked,
whilst not one of the coaches
escaped almost perfect demoli-
tion. From the location of the
wrecked cars it would seem that
the first three passed over the bridge
safely, but the structure evidently gave
way when the fourth car was passing
over it. Five cars went through to the
roadway, landing in a mass of splinters
in the street. The occupants of the
smoker were either killed or injured,
not one escaping without an injury of
some kind. Two OF the coaches went
clear across the roadway, landing
against stone wall that surrounded a
large field at the foot of the hill. As
the cars lie in their present location
they present such a picture of al sol ite
demolition that it seems rkable
that any person in them escaped alive.
Cushions from the seats are scattered
over the roadway and into the adjacent
pastures, while the car.wheels and trucks
are distributed in all directions. That
the horrors of fire were not added to
the terrible disaster was due to the
promptness with which relief was sent.
A chemical engine from Roslindale was
at the scene within twenty minutes after
the occurrence, brought by the letter
carrier, who gave an alarm of fire upon
observing flames issuing from the debris.
The flames were soon extinguished, and
the firemen then did excellent work in
rescuing the injured.
1t has been impossible to obtain cor
rect list of the killed and wounded,
owing to the fact that Immediately after
the catastrophe had occurred its victims
were hastilylremoved from the scene.
and in such widely diverse directions
that it is extremely difficult to trace
them correctly. Some of the injured
were at once conveyed to their homes,
Others were taken to the hospitals, while
Others received temporary shelter in the
residences in the immediate neighbor-
hood. Some of the dead-a majority of
them, in fact-were brought to the city
hospital morgue, but there were others
taken to the depots at Rosl'ndale,
Forrest Hill and Canterbury. The
agents of the railway company are dill
gently at work endeavoring to compile
the complete statistics of the calamity.
A full list of the casualties will doubt
less be furnished at the earliest practi.
cable moment. All day large corps of
surgeons has been at work attending
to the injured, who are more numerous
than was at first reported. 1t is now
estimated that nearly thirty persons re-
ceiyed severe wounds. Of these it is
said that number will probably die. A
curious feature of the disaster
is found in the fact that when
the bridge went down with the
wreck not a scrap of iron remained
attached to the abutments and but for
the chasm and awful wreck beneath.
there was nothing to indicate that a
bridge had once spanned the river. The
wreck of the bridge lay under the debris
of the train almost completely shut out
from view. Lying by the side OF one OF
the splintered cars was one OF the main
iron girders of the bridge, which showed
q clean new fracture through its entire
breadth. This girder was composed of
two parallel plates of heavy wrought
iron, connected by braces of wrought
iron and bolted together. The opinion
generally expressed by those who have
personally inspected the wreck is that
the breaking of this girder was the
Immediate cause of the disaster, but
there is much doubt as to the cause
of the breaking of that girder.
1t is stated by some that there was q
iarring and humping sensation just
previous to the crash, which gives color
to the story that the fourth car, the first
to 90 through the bridge, was derailed
and thrown from its trucks to the ties
on the bridge with such force as to
cause its heavy supports to give way.